A decade after Nick Adenhart's death, his former Iowa minor league team has never forgotten him
In Duane Gigeous' house in Cedar Key, Florida, there's a hallway with a collage of about 20 photos hanging on it.
Most pictures are from his stepson Nick Adenhart's professional baseball playing days. Gigeous' favorite image is one with Adenhart standing on the mound talking with a young girl before one of his starts with the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2006.
“It’s just really a part of him that we knew,” Gigeous said. "Just that sweet side of him.”
It was a side that fans got of the Kernels to see for part of one special season. And it’s moments like those why Adenhart remains a beloved figure in the Cedar Rapids organization 16 years later.
"He was always looking to help somebody out," former Kernels outfielder Brad Coon said.
His family, along with his former team, are making sure his spirit of kindness lives in the eastern Iowa city. It has been over a decade since Adenhart, then a budding star pitcher in the MLB, was killed by a drunk driver following a game with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
But Adenhart is still remembered.
Even in Iowa.
“It’s just great to remind everybody of what a great individual Nick was,” Kernels CEO Doug Nelson said.
Adenhart's time in Cedar Rapids was important
Adenhart's time in Cedar Rapids was among the most important of his pro career.
The right-hander from Maryland was projected to be a possible first-round draft pick out of high school in 2004 but suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. It damaged his draft stock and sent Adenhart freefalling into the 14th round to the Angels. He spent his first season rehabbing and didn't make his pro debut until 2005.
Despite the limited action for Adenhart in 2005, there were high hopes for him. He earned a non-roster invite to big-league spring training and was named the 90th-best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. But after the surgery, Adenhart had to prove he was healthy again.
The 2006 season was his chance after the Angels assigned him to Cedar Rapids, the team's Single-A affiliate at the time, to start the season.
"In the Angels' eyes, he was destined to be a Major League pitcher and not only a pitcher, but a one, two or three in the rotation" said Jack Roeder, who was the team's general manger at the time
Adenhart showed that he had the goods.
He made 16 starts with the Kernels and went 10-2 with a 1.95 ERA. Adenhart racked up 99 strikeouts in 106 innings. At 19 years old, Adenhart was already the ace of his team and was on the fast track to the big leagues. His success earned his All-Star accolades and later in the season, an invite to the All-Star Future's Game.
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The success was huge for the Kernels, who had a prized pitching prospect that Roeder urged his friends to come see. But it was also big for Adenhart His stepdad and mother, Janet Gigeous, went to Cedar Rapids and ventured to road games to watch him pitch. They could tell he was healthy. And once again, confident in himself following elbow surgery.
"He re-found his, for lack of a better word, mojo and really got into a really solid groove there that gave him the success and gave him the confidence to speedily get through the minors," his stepdad said.
Adenhart was a star off the field as well.
He signed autographs for fans and made sure anyone that wanted his signature got one. He went to local schools to speak to kids about the Kernels' reading program. Nelson said the team always had to ask players to volunteer.
Not Adenhart. He signed up for it before anyone asked.
"It was never anything you had to twist his arm to do," Coon said. "If there was an opportunity to volunteer, he was up for it."
Adenhart was popular in the clubhouse and made friends on the Kernels who he stayed in touch with even after he left Cedar Rapids He was a groomsman in Coon's wedding. He also liked the city of Cedar Rapids.
"He was just treated great and it was a very comfortable hometown type of place to play where he could just be himself and really get comfortable doing what he really loved to do," Duane Gigeous said.
That July, Adenhart was promoted to High-A. He was well on his way to the big-leagues.
Adenhart's legacy living on after his death
Adenhart's time in the minors didn't last long.
He made his big-league debut in 2008. A year later, he opened the season on the Angels' big-league roster. He was looked at as the future of the team's pitching. It's easy to see why.
Adenhart flashed all his potential greatness in his first start of the 2009 season when he struck out five and tossed seven shutout innings. It was the last outing of Adenhart's career.
Shortly after midnight, a minivan struck a car Adenhart was riding in as a passenger and caused it to crash into a telephone pole. Adenhart and two others in the car, Henry Pearson and driver Courtney Henderson, were killed.
The driver of the minivan, a repeat drunken driver, was sentenced in 2010 to 51 years to life in prison for his part in the deaths.
Adenhart's death saddened the baseball world, from the Major Leagues to Cedar Rapids.
"It's a shame on so many levels," Roeder said.
His death brought an outpouring of support. The Angels placed a black patch with his No. 34 on their jerseys. The team also left his locker alone at the stadium and hung his jersey in the dugout. Fans sent his family money. They received so much that his family set up a foundation to give back to the community.
One of the places they wanted to use it was in Cedar Rapids. The city and the team meant so much to Adenhart after he left. They called Nelson and asked what they could do to help.
Together, they came up with the idea to have a scholarship in Adenhart's name.
"It honors what he was about in the volunteer world and always giving back," Coon said.
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In 2010, Duane and Janet Gigeous came back to Cedar Rapids to present the team's non-profit foundation with $10,000 for the scholarships. That same day, the Kernels unveiled a sign on the team's outfield wall honoring Adenhart.
"It was very emotional," Nelson said.
Even though the Kernels are now an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, Adenhart remains cherished throughout the team and the community. The Kernels now award two yearly scholarships, one to a male and another to a female, every year using money from the donation from Adenhart's family and raised through the foundation.
Nelson said one of the requirements for applicants is to write an essay about their vision for the future and give examples why they are a good teammate. It was a great trait of Adenhart's.
The team presents both winners of the scholarship before a Kernels home game. During the presentation, they play a video tribute to Adenhart.
"It's just great to remind everybody of what a great individual Nick was and to be able to keep his memory alive with students that quite frankly were in elementary school if even in elementary school when Nick played here," Nelson said.
Adenhart's stepdad said they still talk to Nick's old teammates. But watching baseball was tough for his parents. As the years have gone by, it's gotten easier.
They've watched a little more. They may even watch Tuesday's game in Dyersville against the Quad Cities River Bandits on MLB Network, because the team still means so much to them.
"He just enjoyed that life so much and then the people there and the community to make it such a great experience for him, it's just heartwarming," his stepdad said. "He left this earth way too soon but his experiences were much larger than the 22 years he lived."
Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Nick Adenhart's legacy lives on with his former Iowa minor league club
